Wabtec Lands Platform Screen Door Order for Panama Metro
Written by Carolina Worrell, Senior Editor
The 300 half-height platform screen doors order for Panama Metro marks Wabtec's first project in Central America.
Wabtec Corp. announced on Sept. 15 that it has won an order to supply 300 half-height platform screen doors across Panama Metro’s (Metro de Panama) L3 monorail stations being built by Hitachi Rail, as part of the Grupo de Empresas Sunrise Monorail.
The order, which marks Wabtec’s first project in Central America, is part of a project creating a new 25-km monorail line, served by 28 six-car trains (168 cars), along with signaling, telecommunication and power systems. Wabtec will supply the platform screen doors, as well as provide the training and support for the installation, testing and commissioning.
According to the company, Wabtec’s platform screen doors “boost safety by acting as a physical barrier preventing people or objects from falling onto tracks or trespassing.” Half-height screen doors, Wabtec says, are the “ideal solution for enhancing safety on technically challenging outdoor rail lines thanks to their ease of installation.”
“As a pioneer in platform screen doors with multiple successful projects to our name, Wabtec is the natural choice for half-height gates for metro applications,” said Wabtec Transit President Lilian Leroux. “Having worked with Wabtec on a successful project to install half-height platform screen doors on the Copenhagen metro, Denmark, the team at Hitachi knew our proven capabilities in this area. We are proud to play a leading role in ensuring the safety and comfort of passengers [on Panama Metro], and in creating more reliable, secure, and robust metro networks the world over.”
“Having delivered one of the most advanced metro lines around the world–employing the latest digital technology–we know that the doors, platforms and stations have to work together with the rest of the systems to operate efficiently and provide a great passenger experience,” said Chris Singer, Director–Signaling and Turnkey Procurement, Americas Region, Hitachi Rail. “The gates contribute to making rail services more punctual and reliable by helping passengers board and alight trains in an orderly and safely fashion, thereby reducing wait times.”
This latest project in Panama, Wabtec says, reinforces the company’s leadership in platform screen doors. According to the company, Wabtec installed the world’s first doors in Hong Kong in 2002 and was recently selected to supply platform screen doors for the Marseille metro as part of plans to upgrade and automate its local transport network. The transport network in Sydney, Australia, along with metro lines in Paris, France, and Brussels, Belgium, have also installed Wabtec’s safety-boosting technology, the company says.
